Some background: I am not a boardgamer and none of my friends are boardgamers (well we play some Heroscape), but I would like to change this and give us something else to do on weekends. I have not played any of these games.

It seems to me that both of these games are very similiar. Settlers is praised for being one of the best gateway games, and this is definitely a good trait for me and my group. Puerto Rico, however, is ranked #1 and seems to be more popular. I also like that Puerto Rico can be played with only 2 players.

Basically, my concern is that if I buy Settlers and everyone enjoys it, it is only logical to buy Puerto Rico next. In that case, it seems like Settlers would become obsolete at that point, and I don't want to spend a the money needlessly. Does anybody still play Settlers after playing Puerto Rico?

Then again, if I decide to go straight for Puerto Rico is seems like there is a possibility of it being too heavy for my group to enjoy, and that it would be safer to go with the gateway choice of Settlers. Do these concerns seem valid? What's my best bet here?

Also, I'm interested in a warfare game. I was so close to buying M'44, but all these reviews of C&C:Ancients keep mentioning how vastly superior it is. The production quality of the dice and board are huge drawbacks in my mind, but based on reviews it still sounds like a better purchase. I'd still like to get a WW2 game though, and at this point I'm trying to decide between A&A:Revised, Europe, or Pacific. The large scale of Revised interests me, but I don't really know which of the three I would enjoy more to tell you the truth. Assuming that I do buy C&C:Ancients, which of the games would compliment that the best? My thought is that, despite the fact that some people may prefer a smaller scale game like Pacific, a game like M'44 or C&C:Ancients fills this role much better, and that I may be better off with Revised (or Europe?). Is it possible that C&C:Ancients is so much better than A&A that I wouldn't be interested in playing any A&A games?

I'm basically interested in possibly buying 3 games very soon...

1) Puerto Rico or Settlers of Catan2) C&C:Ancients or M'44 + expansions3) Some version of Axis and Allies (unless category 2 eliminates the need/desire)

Which combination of games will make a TRIFECTA of gaming awesomness that will never be matched? ... or am I totally clueless?

Basically, my concern is that if I buy Settlers and everyone enjoys it, it is only logical to buy Puerto Rico next.

In my opinion you are looking at a problem that isn't there.

The Settlers will provide a hundreds of hours of enjoyment. Like most people in the first year I almost exclusively played Settlers and Carcasonne.

It is very likely that if everybody enjoys Settlers that you will eventually buy Puerto Rico. But there is even a bigger chance you will buy more gateway games first. Like Carcasonne or Ticket to Ride (which seems to bee the current standard gateway game) or M'44. There are a lot of types of games and I think it is best to first find out what type of gamer you and your friends are. In your group there are probably serveral types, so you will need several games to acomodate them.

But this is quite hypothetical if you don't even know if your friends even like boardgames. My advice would be to try before you buy. Find shop that will teach and allow you to play a game before you buy. Go to a boardgame event, or a gameclub that allows outsiders to join (for a couple of times)

PS. There are a lot of gamers that have never played Puerto Rico and still consider themselves boardgamegeeks.

I have to agree that Catan is not a problem. You can set up Catan randomly, so it is very replayable. Very likely you will want to get the Seafarers expansion, and possibly the 5&6 player expansions. The only negative is that all those expansions run into a bit of money, but they also allow larger and more complex boards. There are also unofficial expansions like, "Civilizations of Catan". I would recomment against the Catan variants: Ark of the Covenant, Starfarers, or Settlers of the Stone age: while they're nice, in my opinion, they're only worth playing a couple times because of their fixed boards. (Of course, it's a matter of taste: I was astonished to have an experienced Catan gamer want to play a specific scenario he had played before instead of a random setup.

Carcassonne is also a good choice as a "gateway" game, and a bargain; the ubiquitous meeples are from this game. These are both more liked by women because the conflict is indirect instead of direct combat, or worse, "screw you" actions.

Puerto Rico is an extremely deep and slippery game. The strategy seems a lot more obvious that it is. It's also a pretty long game with complex set up. Last, it is very easy to misunderstand the rules. I wouldn't recommend it as an early game. I think Caylus, very much an up-and-comer, would be a better choice as a step up to higher complexity after some gateway games; it has mechanics vaguely similar to Catan, so it can be a good move into more complex games after Catan. However, the related card game to Puerto Rico, San Juan, is much less slippery and can ease you into some of the Puerto Rico concepts.

I'll second the recommendation of Ticket to Ride, or Ticket to Ride Europe. Or for another train game, Empire Builder, or any of that family of Mayfair games; while not German, they're easy to learn, offer great replayability, and have a good amount of depth. I wouldn't recommend Transamerica: it's more of a filler game with little depth. OTOH, Railroad Tycoon and its related games, Age of Stead, is a bit complex for an early game.

I would suggest trying some different games to get experience with the wide variety of mechanics used in Euro-games.

DO try to find a German/Euro gaming group! They will have gobs of games, so you can try before you buy. The last month, I've played at least 20 new games. (I may go into meltdown and return to tiddly-winks.)

Hi Joe. Settlers is an excelent non gamer's game. Most of the people I know started to play eurogames with Settlers of Catan. So i guess it's a good start for your non-gamers friends.Puerto Rico is probably my favorite game of all. For one simple reason: it's that "always want to play" kind of game. I think it could be your step number 2. But I still think that Puerto Rico is an excelent non gamers choice because is a simple game, not a mind burner, and with elegant mechanics.

About wargames. I don't know Memoir and Commands and Colors because I'm not a two player game fan. If you're looking for a two player game maybe both are excelent choices. I really can't help you on that.

Axis and Allies is a cooperative game. I own the revised edition, never played Europe, D Day or Pacific but, as far as I know, the best version is the global war. It's a bit too lucky for my taste...

I would recommend you to buy Settlers, Puerto Rico and Axis and Allies revised. Just skip Memoir '44 and and Command and Colours.Memoir/C&C are good games but I think the rest are better for you and the components of C&C dont appeal to non gamers and theres a good chance your group will shun the game based simply on that (But the true gamer must eventually learn to love wooden blocks!).Puerto Rico and Settlers are just fantastic euro games with wide spread appeal and Axis and Allies revised is THE gateway war game. These three can keep you busy for a long time (but of course noone who comes to this site stops at just three, no matter how much they tell themselves they will ).

For some 1st purchases I would recommend Settlers over PR. Settlers is a lot easier to learn, has a ton of replayability, and makes for a great intro to euro-games. PR is a ton of fun, but can be a little daunting for 1st time players as there are various phases and rounds, and role cards that can confuse people.

I would also recommend getting M'44 too. It's production qualities are superb. The historical scenarios, the cool boards and bits, etc make for an excellent game. I'd stay away from C&C:Ancients until the 2nd reprint comes out as the dice are shoddy and the map is really really shoddy in comparison to the M'44 map (very thin cardboard).

Like some of the other posters said, look at picking up Carcassonne and one of the Ticket to Ride games (I recommend TtR - USA). Excellent gateway games and lots of replayability.

Settler's is the game I use to get my friends hooked. It's cardboard crack. Puerto Rico is a great game. Both will get played a lot. I can't really imagine playing PR with fewer than 3.

I would start with Memoir rather than Ancients as it is a better starter game. Ancients is a good game, more complex but though I own both Memoir still hits the table more often. (Of course that may be because I suggest it more often)...

Wow, thanks for all the outstanding advice! I just returned from the store with Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride: Marklin, and Axis and Allies: Revised. Can't wait to start playing!

Sweet!! You'll love Marklin Edition. It's a little deeper than the other TtR series but a ton of fun nonetheless. You can't go wrong on Settlers either! As far as A&A, I've not played it but sounds like fun anyways